Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements of tip vortex wake structure of wind turbine

Large-view flow field measurements using the particle image velocimetry （PIV） technique with high resolution CCD cameras on a rotating 1/8 scale blade model of the NREL UAE phase VI wind turbine are conducted in the engineering-oriented q53.2 m wind tunnel. The motivation is to establish the database of the initiation and development of the tip vortex to study the flow structure and mechanism of the wind turbine. The results show that the tip vortex first moves inward for a very short period and then moves outward with the wake expansion, while its vorticity decreases with time after being trailed from the trailing edge of the blade tip, and then increases continuously with the rapid rolling-up to form a strong tip vortex. The measurements also indicate that the downstream movement of the tip vortex is nearly linear in the very near wake under the test condition.

Computational and Empirical Investigation of Propeller Tip Vortex Cavitation Noise

In this study,non-cavitating and cavitating flow around the benchmark DTMB 4119 model propeller are solved using both viscous and potential based solvers.Cavitating and non-cavitating propeller radiated noises are then predicted by using a hybrid method in which RANS(Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes)and FWH(Ffowcs Williams Hawkings)equations are solved together in open water conditions.Sheet cavitation on the propeller blades is modelled by using a VOF(Volume of Fiuld)method equipped with Schnerr-Sauer cavitation model.Nevertheless,tip vortex cavitation noise is estimated by using two different semi-empirical techniques,namely Tip Vortex Index(TVI,based on potential flow theory)and Tip Vortex Contribution(TVC).As the reference distance between noise source and receiver is not defined in open water case for TVI technique,one of the outputs of this study is to propose a reference distance for TVI technique by coupling two semi-empirical techniques and ITTC distance normalization.At the defined distance,the starting point of the tip vortex cavitation is determined for different advance ratios and cavitation numbers using potential flow solver.Also,it is examined that whether the hybrid method and potential flow solver give the same noise results at the inception point of tip vortex cavitation.Results show that TVI method based on potential flow theory is reliable and can practically be used to replace the hybrid method(RANS with FWH approach)when tip vortex cavitation starts.

Numerical Prediction of Tip Vortex Cavitation for Marine Propellers in Non-uniform Wake

Tip vortex cavitation is the first type of cavita- tion to take place around most marine propellers. But the numerical prediction of tip vortex cavitation is one of the challenges for propeller wake because of turbulence dis- sipation during the numerical simulation. Several parame- ters of computational mesh and numerical algorithm are tested by mean of the predicted length of tip vortex cav- tiation to validate a developed method. The predicted length of tip vortex cavtiation is on the increase about 0.4 propeller diameters using the developed numerical method. The predicted length of tip vortex cavtiation by RNG k - e model is about 3 times of that by SST k - ~o model. Therefore, based on the validation of the present approach, the cavitating flows generated by two rotating propellers under a non-uniform inflow are calculated further. The distributions of axial velocity, total pressure and vapor volume fraction in the transversal planes across tip vortex region are shown to be useful in analyzing the feature of the cavitating flow. The strongest kemel of tip vortex cavitation is not at the position most close to blade tip but slightly far away from the region. During the growth of tip vortex cavitation extension, it appears short and thick, and then it becomes long and thin. The pressure fluctuations at the positions inside tip vortex region also validates the conclusion. A key finding of the study is that the grids constructed especially for tip vortex flows by usingseparated computational domain is capable of decreasing the turbulence dissipation and correctly capturing the fea- ture of propeller tip vortex cavitation under uniform and non-uniform inflows. The turbulence model and advanced grids is important to predict tip vortex cavitation.

Numerical simulation of trajectory and deformation of bubble in tip vortex

According to the behaviors of a bubble in the ship wake flow, the numericai simulation is divided into two stages, quasi-spherical motion and non-spherical motion, based on whether the bubble is captured by the vortex or not. The one-way coupled particle tracking method （PTM） and the boundary element method （BEM） are adopted to simulate these two stages, respectively. Meanwhile, the initial condition of the second stage is taken as the output of the first one, and the entire simulation is connected and completed. Based on the numerical results and the published experimental data, the cavitation inception is studied, and the wake bubble is tracked. Besides, the split of the bubble captured by the vortex and the following sub-bubbles are simulated, including motion, deformation, and collapse. The results provide some insights into the control on wake bubbles and optimization of the wake flow.

Tracking a Tip Vortex with Adaptive Vorticity Confinement and Hybrid RANS-LES

The prediction of coherent vortices with standard RANS solvers suffers especially from discretisation and modelling errors which both introduce numerical diffusion. The adaptive Vorticity Confinement (VC) method targets to counteract one part of the discretisation error: the one due to the discretisation of the convection term. This method is applied in conjunction with a hybrid RANS-LES turbulence model to overcome the overprediction of turbulence intensity inside vortex cores which is a typical deficiency of common RANS solvers. The third main source for numerical diffusion originates from the spatial discretisation of the solution domain in the vicinity of the vortex core. The corresponding error is analysed within a grid convergence study. A modification of the adaptive VC method used in conjunction with a high-order discretisation of the convection term is presented and proves to be superior. The simulations of a wing tip vortex flow are validated in terms of vortex velocity profiles using the results of a wind tunnel experiment performed by Devenport and colleagues (1996). Besides, the results are compared with another numerical study by Wells (2009) who uses a Reynolds Stress turbulence model. It turns out that the application of the modified adaptive VC method on the one hand reinforces the tip vortex, and on the other hand accelerates the axial flow which leads to a slight degradation compared to the experimental results. The result of Wells is more accurate close to the wing, but the result obtained here is superior further downstream as no excessive diffusion of the tip vortex occurs.

LES investigation of the tip vortex cavitating flow with special emphasis on the interaction between cavitation and vorticity by a modified cavitation model

Cavitation within the tip vortex(TV)flow remains a challenging issue in the design of high-speed and low-noise hydraulic machinery.In this paper,the TV cavitating flow around an elliptical hydrofoil is calculated by using large eddy simulation(LES)combined with a modified Schnerr-Sauer(S-S)cavitation model.The original S-S cavitation model is modified by taking into account the typical effect of vortex flow.The partial pressure term which can describe the vortex quantitatively and qualitatively is confirmed asρ_(m)ω^(2) x r _(c)^(2) ,and is considered into the R-P equation of the modified S-S cavitation model.Comparison between the numerical and experimental results shows good agreement in the form and evolution of cavities,including attached cavities(AC)and tip vortex cavities(TVC).The vorticity transport equation is utilized to investigate the dynamic mechanisms of the vortex development around the TVC.Further analyses indicate that cavitation in the TV flow influences the pressure in the core of the cavity and the local flow patterns.Typical vortex structures in the TV cavitating flow include TV,secondary vortex(SV)and wake vortex(WV).The direction and magnitude of the rotation effect can be described by axial vorticity which is drawn on the iso-surface of Q=1×105 s−2.The development of the TV cavitating flow can be divided into two stages:Stage I,the development and fusion of TV,SV,stage II,the dissipation of SV.The stretching term dominates the evolution of TV,and the dilatation term is the main reason in the mergence process of SV.

Calculation of tip vortex cavitation flows around three-dimensional hydrofoils and propellers using a nonlinear k-ε turbulence model

Simulations of tip vortex wetted flows and cavitating flows are carried out by using a RANS model. Two types of turbule- nce models, with and without the Boussinesq turbulent-viscosity hypothesis, are adopted in comparing with experimental results regarding the vorticity, the strain rate and the Reynolds shear stress distributions in the vortex region. The numerical results imply that the spatial phase shift between the mean strain rate and the Reynolds stresses can be accurately modeled by the nonlinear κ-ε turbulence model, the tip vortex cavitation region can only be predicted using the nonlinear κ-ε turbulence model. The mecha- nism of the over-dissipation due to the turbulence model is analyzed in terms of the turbulence production, which is one of the dominant source terms in the transport equations of energy.

Experimental measurement of tip vortex flow field with/without cavitation in an elliptic hydrofoil

In this paper, recent measurements of tip vortex flow with and without cavitation carried out in Cavitation Mechanism Tunnel of China Ship Scientific Research Center（CSSRC） are presented. The elliptic hydrofoil with section NACA 662-415 was adopted as test model. High-speed video（HSV） camera was used to visualize the trajectory of tip vortex core and the form of tip vortex cavitation（TVC） in different cavitation situations. Laser Doppler velocimetry（LDV） was employed to measure the tip vortex flow field in some typical sections along the vortex trajectory with the case of cavitation free. Stereo particle image velocimetry（SPIV） system was used to measure the velocity and vorticity distributions with and without cavitation. Series measurement results such as velocity and vorticity distributions, the trajectory of tip vortex core, the vortex core radius, cavity size and cavitation inception number were obtained. The results demonstrated that the minimum pressure coefficient in the vortex core obtained by flow field measurement was quite coincident with the tip vortex cavitation inception number obtained under the condition of high incoming velocity and low air content. And TVC would decrease the vortex strength comparing with the case without cavitation.

A review of studies of mechanism and prediction of tip vortex cavitation inception

The inception of the tip vortex cavitation（TVC） is a very important problem in cavitation researches. The study of the mechanism of the TVC inception is not only conducive to its prediction, but also helps to suppress or suspend the occurrence of cavitation. In this paper, the research progresses on the TVC inception including theoretical, experimental and numerical studies mainly in the last two decades are reviewed. It is shown that the TVC inception is affected by complicated factors, such as the water quality, the average pressure and the fluctuating pressure. In the scaling law for the determination of the TVC inception, all these factors are considered. To precisely describe the scaling law, more investigations are needed to understand the effects of the water quality and the fluctuating pressure.

Experimental analysis of tip vortex cavitation mitigation by controlled surface roughness

This study presents results of experiments where roughness applications are evaluated in delaying the tip vortex cavitation inception of an elliptical foil.High-speed video recordings and laser doppler velocimetry(LDV)measurements are employed to provide further details on the cavitation behavior and tip vortex flow properties in different roughness pattern configurations.The angular momentum measurements of the vortex core region at one chord length downstream of the tip indicate that roughness leads to a lower angular momentum compared with the smooth foil condition while the vortex core radius remains similar in the smooth and roughened conditions.The observations show that the cavitation number for tip vortex cavitation inception is reduced by 33%in the optimized roughness pattern compared with the smooth foil condition where the drag force increase is observed to be around 2%.During the tests,no obvious differences in the cavitation inception properties of uniform and non-uniform roughness distributions are observed.However,the drag force is found to be higher with a non-uniform roughness distribution.

Study of tip vortex cavitation inception and vortex singing

Tip vortex cavitation(TVC)is an important cavitation phenomenon in marine propeller.The formation and evolution of tip vortex cavitation are hot topics consistently both in engineering application and mechanism research.In this paper some recent studies on tip vortex cavitation inception and the noise of tip vortex cavitation evolution are presented.The effects of both flow field and water qualities on tip vortex cavitation inception are considered by experiments and numerical simulations.The results show that besides the average minimum pressure in the vortex core the turbulence fluctuation and water qualities including air content and nuclei distribution have great influence on tip vortex cavitation inception.Based on the idea of first nucleus cavitating in tip vortex core new prediction formula for tip vortex cavitation inception is proposed.The synchronous technique of high speed video observation and noise measurement are adopted to study the development of tip vortex cavitation.S-type total noise characteristics are obtained when cavitation number from low to high.Vortex singing is found in the case where the tip vortex cavitation just before leaves the tip region.The excited mechanism of vortex singing is proposed by analyzing the wave propagation on the interface of vortex cavity.

Wing tip vortex structure behind an airfoil with flaps at the tip

In this work, the wing tip vortex structure behind a NACA 0015 airfoil with and without small flaps was studied using a Partical Image Velocimetry （PIV） system. The experiment was carried out in a low speed wind tunnel with a test section of 0.5 m x 0.5 m. The Reynolds number （Re）, defined by the chord length of the wing （C）, was 8.1 x 104. The angle of attack was fixed at 10~. The PIV measurements were made from 0 to 2C, measured from the trailing edge of the model. The dihedral angle of three flaps was -15~, 0~ and 15~, respectively. Compared with the clean airfoil, the one with three flaps significantly changed the wing tip vortex structure, the vorticity and the core of the wing tip vortex. The occurrence of three flaps decreased the gradient of pressure on the two sides of the wing tip, which depressed wing tip vortex formation to some extent. Vortices shed from three flaps influence the evolution of the wingtip vortex generated by the base airfoil. The interaction of those vortices resulted in a weakening of the wing tip vortex.

EXPERIMENTAL ESTIMATION OF A SCALING EXPONENT FOR TIP VORTEX CAVITATION VIA ITS INCEPTION TEST IN FULL-AND MODEL-SHIP

Tip vortex cavitation noise of marine propeller became primary concems to reduce hazardous environmental impacts from commercial ship or to keep the underwater surveillance of naval ships. The investigations of the tip vortex and its induced noise are normally conducted through the model test in a water cavitation tunnel. However the Reynolds number of model-test is much smaller than that of the full-scale, which subsequently results in the difference of tip vortex cavitation inception. Hence, the scaling law between model- and full-scales needs to be identified prior to the prediction and assessment of propeller noise in full scale. From previous researches, it is generally known that the incipient caivtation number of tip vortex can be represented as a power of the Reynolds number. However, the power exponent for scaling, which is the main focus of this research, has not been clearly studied yet. This paper deals with the estimation of scaling exponent based on tip vortex cavitation inception test in both full- and model-scale ships. Acoustical measurements as well as several kind of signal processing technique for an inception criterion suggest the scaling exponent as 0.30. The scaling value proposed in this study shows slight difference to the one of most recent research. Besides, extrapolation of model-ship noise measurement using the proposed one predicts the full-scale noise measurement with an acceptable discrepancy.

Application of signal processing techniques to the detection of tip vortex cavitation noise in marine propeller

The tip vortex cavitation and its relevant noise has been the subject of extensive researches up to now. In most cases of experimental approaches, the accurate and objective decision of cavitation inception is primary, which is the main topic of this paper. Although the conventional power spectrum is normally adopted as a signal processing tool for the analysis of cavitation noise, a faithful exploration cannot be made especially for the cavitation inception. Alternatively, the periodic occurrence of bursting noise induced from tip vortex cavitation gives a diagnostic proof that the repeating frequency of the bursting contents can be exploited as an indication of the inception. This study, hence, employed the Short-Time Fourier Transform （STFT） analysis and the Detection of Envelope Modulation On Noise （DEMON） specmma analysis, both which are appropriate for finding such a repeating frequency. Through the acoustical measurement in a water tunnel, the two signal processing techniques show a satisfactory result in detecting the inception of tip vortex cavitation.

Novel scaling law for estimating propeller tip vortex cavitation noise from model experiment

The tip vortex cavitation（TVC） noise of marine propellers is of interest due to the environmental impacts from commercial ships as well as for the survivability of naval ships. Due to complicated flow and noise field around a marine propeller, a theoretical approach to the estimation of TVC noise is practically unrealizable. Thus, estimation of prototype TVC noise level is realized through extrapolation of the model TVC noise level measured in a cavitation tunnel. In this study, for the prediction of prototype TVC noise level from a model test, a novel scaling law reflecting the physical basis of TVC is derived from the Rayleigh-Plesset equation, the Rankine vortex model, the lifting surface theory, and other physical assumptions. Model and prototype noise data were provided by Samsung Heavy Industries（SHI） for verification. In applying the novel scaling law, similitude of the spectra of nuclei is applied to assume the same nuclei distribution in the tip vortex line of the model and the prototype. It was found that the prototype TVC noise level predicted by the novel scaling law has better agreement with the prototype TVC noise measurement than the prototype TVC noise level predicted by the modified ITTC noise estimation rule.

Detached-eddy simulation of wing-tip vortex in the near field of NACA 0015 airfoil

In the present study, the formation of the wing-tip vortex from a rectangular NACA0015 wing with a square tip at the Reynolds number of 1.8× 105 and the angles of attack （AOA） α = 8° and 10° were simulated with an incompressible detached eddy simulation （DES） method and the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes （RANS） equations with the SA model respectively. Numerical results were compared with experimental results to validate the capability of the employed methods in resolving tip vortex flows. The results show that DES model could capture the complicated three-dimensional structures in the vortex, and the streamwise vorticity and the cross-flow velocity agree with the experiment results quite well, but RANS-SA model with the same grid as that of DES failed to capture the correct structures and under-predicted the streamwise vorticity in the vortex by 40%. The present study suggests that under the same calculation cost, DES but not RANS-SA could be used to effectively predict the flow characteristics in tip vortex.

VISCOUS SCALE EFFECTS ON PROPELLER TIP VORTEX CAVITATION

Viscous scale effects on propeller TVC were investigated by testing a series of three geosim propeller models in the large cavitation Tunnel of CSSRC without and with two different turbulence stimulators. Tests included flow visualization by oil film method and cavitation observation for five different stages of development of propeller TVC: desinent, unattached, attached, developed and fully developed TVC. The main findings are: 1)there existed a size effect of the boundary-layer transition on propeller models which could be analyzed by using the critical roughness Reynolds number and a newly defined quasi-critical Reynolds number, 2)the preliminary results of the blackboardpaint used as a tripping device was encouraging, 3)the Reynolds number exponent n of TVC scaling rules was found to be dependent upon the blade surface condition, the stage of development of TVC and the thrust loading of propeller models.

COMPUTATIONAL AND EXPERI-MENTAL STUDY ON TIP LEAKAGE VORTEX OF CIRCUMFERENTIAL SKEWED BLADES

In the steady operation condition, the experiments and the numerical simulations are used to investigate the tip leakage flow fields in three low pressure axial flow fans with three kinds of circumferential skewed rotors, including the radial rotor, the forward-skewed rotor and the back- ward-skewed rotor. The three-dimensional viscous flow fields of the fans are computed. In the experiments, the two-dimensional plane particle image velocimetry （PIV） system is used to measure the flow fields in the tip region of three different pitchwise positions of each fan. The results show that the computational results agree well with the experimental data in the flow field of the tip region of each fan. The tip leakage vortex core segments based on method of the eigenmode analysis can display clearly some characteristics of the tip leakage vortex, such as the origination position of tip leak- age vortex, the development of vortex strength, and so on. Compared with the radial rotor, the other two skewed rotors can increase the stability of the tip leakage vortex and the increment in the forward-skewed rotor is more than that in the backward-skewed one. Among the tip leakage vortices of the three rotors, the velocity of the vortex in the forward-skewed rotor is th6 highest in the circumferential direction and the lowest in the axial direction.

Visualization and Experiment of Tip Vortex Phenomenon in Cooling Fan using Digital Particle Image Velocimetry

The Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (DPIV) is an efficient method for measuring the internal flow field of a low-speed cooling fan. This paper studied the velocity field by means of PIV technology for a leading edge swept axial-flow fan without casing, and the tip vortex phenomenon was observed. Time-averaged velocity measurements were taken near the pressure surface, the suction surface and the tip of blade, etc. Moreover, the flow characteristics were visualized using numerical techniques. Experimental results showed that this tip vortex existed at the leading edge of the blade. The generating, developing and dissipating evolvement process of the tip vortex from the blade leading edge to downstream were discussed in detail. In addition, by comparing DPIV results and numerical results, a good agreement between them indicated a possibility to predict flow field using CFD tools. The experimental data provided in this paper are reliable for improving the aerodynamic characteristics of the open axial fan.

Numerical Analysis and PIV Measurements of Tip Vortex in an Axial Rotor with Skewed-Swept Blade at Its Leading Edge

Based on the characteristics of axial fans of outdoor units of centralized air-conditioners, using the finite-volume method, applying three-dimensional steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations coupled with Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model equation, and adopting SIMPLE algorithm, numerical analysis is made and applied to analyze the internal flow field of axial rotors with skewed-swept blade at its leading edge. This numerical simulation mainly investigates the formation and development of the tip vortex. Based on the tip vortex characteristics that have been captured, the internal flow numerical results are compared with those obtained by the PIV experiments. This comparison indicates a good agreement between numerical results and PIV results, thus proving the validity of the numerical simulation. In addition, based on the internal flow analyses of the axial rotor with skewed-swept blade at its leading edge, different flow phenomena features are presented. These flow features can be used for further improvements of the present rotor performance characteristics.